


That Smile

by nightfuryy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Coming Out, Demisexual Harry Potter, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gay Fred Weasley, Harry Potter Has PTSD, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Protective Fred Weasley, Protective George Weasley, Slow Burn, Slow-ish burn, Yule Ball (Harry Potter), it'll have more fluff in later chapters I promise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-15 07:15:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29680362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightfuryy/pseuds/nightfuryy
Summary: What if Harry gets a different date to the ball? And what if this leads to a bit of a sexual awakening?(I'm really bad at summaries)
Relationships: Harry Potter/Fred Weasley
Comments: 8
Kudos: 81





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> AN: Harry has touch problems from his time with the Dursleys, Fred is openly gay with his family, Harry lives at Grimmauld Place with wolfstar, and Harry's scar is shaped like an actual bolt of lightning in my head because I saw some art like that and I'm in love with the idea.
> 
> Tags will be updated as I continue to write the rest of the chapters.

Harry stared at the parchment he had been writing on, brain working on overdrive, although not on the assignment in front of him. He had to find a date. By the end of the day. Harry went through the list in his head of every possible girl that he could ask and every option just didn’t feel okay. The thought of dancing with most of them made anxiety constrict his chest; he knew the champions had to do the opening dance. But then he thought maybe he could go with one of his friends as a friend. But the only girl he was comfortable going with as friends was Hermione and she was taken.

Groaning, Harry let his forehead thud against the table. There was no way he was going to find a date to the Yule Ball.

“Harry?” Ron whispered concernedly, but Harry just waved him off. He didn’t think it’d be any use sharing his crisis with his best friend. Ron was probably also trying to think of someone to ask before they went to sleep that night.

He forced his frantic thinking to stop and he made himself work the problem over slowly. Harry had to find someone he was comfortable dancing with, which meant his date was most likely going to be someone he knew he was already comfortable hugging. Okay. That was an okay list of people, but it became really slim when he cut it down to girls at Hogwarts who didn’t already have dates. The list actually became nonexistent, Harry realized. He also realized he’d come to this conclusion already and let out another frustrated groan.

Suddenly, an idea crossed his mind that made him freeze momentarily. What if he didn’t go with a girl? What if he went with another boy as friends? It didn’t seem like such a bad idea after contemplating it for a moment. Harry thought of some of the boys he’d want to go with and the first person that popped into his head was sitting right in front of him. Fred Weasley. Fred didn’t have a date yet and Harry knew he was perfectly comfortable with most physical affection from the twin since Harry was already fairly close with him, so dancing would be no problem. Asking Fred seemed like the perfect solution.

The thought of going to the ball with the older twin made his cheeks heat up. That was new, Harry thought, but he pushed that out of his mind for the moment. Harry sighed in relief at his brilliant idea and sat up to continue his work. The thought of going with Fred was the only thing so far that didn’t make him nervous. Now he just had to hope he said yes. Harry decided he’d ask Fred later that day after classes.

When he finally found the redhead later, him and George were sitting in the common room with Lee Jordan. Harry took a deep breath before steeling his nerves and walking over to the three boys.

“Fred?” Harry asked once he was standing in front of them. He felt three pairs of eyes focus on him and it made him want to turn back around. He was already nervous and being the center of attention didn’t help settle him.

“Whatcha need Harry?” Fred flicked his hair out of his face with a quick jerk of his head as he turned to face Harry. For the second time that day the eldest twin made him blush. It was from putting himself in the spotlight, Harry told himself. It was not because he thought the hair flick or the lopsided smile that accompanied it were really cute.

“Could I talk to you for a moment?” Harry clasped his hands behind his back and rocked back on his heels a little bit as he waited for an answer.

“Sure,” Fred said. He got to his feet and followed the younger wizard off to the side of the common room where there was no one to really listen in on their conversation. Fred leaned against the wall. “What can I do for ya?”

“I was wondering if you wanted to go to the ball with me,” Harry said, looking down at his feet, then added to clarify, “As friends.” He looked up at Fred with a hopeful look and saw surprise on the redhead’s features. “I don’t think I’m comfortable going with anyone else who doesn’t already have a date. Not that you’re my last choice! The champions have to open the ball and I don’t think I can dance with anyone else and-”

“I’d be happy to go to the ball with you,” Fred cut him off.

“Really?” Harry stared at the twin in shock.

“Yeah,” Fred smiled. “It’ll be fun. I was just gonna ask one of the girls to go as friends anyway. This’ll be way better.”

“There’s no other boys you’d want to go with?” Harry asked, still a little bit in shock and wanting to make sure the twin really did want to go with him. He didn’t want to ruin Fred’s chance at an actual date to the ball.

“Nah,” Fred shrugged. “No one’s really caught my eye.”

“Okay,” Harry smiled, letting his skepticism melt away and standing a little taller. He ignored the strange pang in his chest when Fred said he wasn’t interested in anyone. “Thanks.”

“Anytime,” Fred said and reached out to ruffle Harry’s hair, then pulled him into a side hug. “I should get back to George and Lee.”

“Wait!” Fred still had his arm around Harry, but stopped moving away. “Are you any good at dancing?”

“The best,” Fred grinned cockily. Harry couldn’t help a small laugh.

“Good. I don’t know how to dance,” he said, pushing his messed up hair out of his face. “You can lead.”

“Don’t worry,” Fred said. “I’ll make sure you look great on the dance floor.”

Harry nodded with an amused look and watched as Fred walked away. He let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding, then went to go sit with Hermione. She was reading what looked to be a textbook at one of the tables.

“What were you talking to Fred about?” she asked Harry as he sat down next to her. Hermione looked up at him, waiting for him to answer.

“I asked him if he wanted to go to the ball with me as friends,” he answered.

“And?”

“And what?”

“And what’d he say?”

“Oh! He said yes,” Harry grinned. It was odd how light and happy he felt saying that out loud, but he didn’t think too much into it. He was just glad to have found a date to the ball. Harry glanced over at Fred. He was laughing and Harry couldn’t help that his cheeks turned heated up once again or the strange fluttery feeling in his chest.

“You’re just going as friends?” Hermione asked with a curious look. Harry turned to look back at her and cocked his head slightly.

“Yeah, why?” he asked. He had just said that they were going as friends.

“No reason,” the witch said. Hermione looked deep in thought for a moment before blinking a few times and turning back to her book.

“You’re really not going to tell me who your date to the ball is?” Harry asked.

“Nope,” Hermione said, not even bothering to look up from her book.


	2. Chapter 2

Lips were pressing soft kisses to his collarbone, but they were slowly working their way up his neck. Harry hummed and tilted his head, giving those lips better access. He frowned when they suddenly disappeared, but they reappeared moments later on his own.

Harry realized he was being pressed up against a wall by a much taller body. Hands were holding him there firmly but not too firmly by his waist. As Harry started to fully process what was happening, though, anxiety started to build in his chest that made him want to squirm away from whoever was with him. Someone he didn’t know was touching him. Fear spiked in his stomach and he needed to get away. But he quickly realized the touch was familiar and safe. He was with someone he knew and someone he trusted. Harry relaxed again and let his hands roam the body that was pressed against him.

His hands explored their sides and their chest, _his_ sides and _his_ chest, Harry quickly realized. He traced the hard lines of muscle there, slowly making his way up to his shoulders where Harry wrapped his arms around his neck. He let his fingers run through the soft, shoulder length hair at the base of his head as they kissed. He opened his eyes seeing a flash of red before-

“Harry! Wake up!” Ron was bouncing on one foot trying to pull his socks on.

“What?” Harry grumbled, burying his face in his pillow. He pulled his blankets up tighter around his neck. The boy stretched out in his bed, but quickly froze. Harry was suddenly very thankful that he was laying mostly face down. And then the memory of his dream came crashing down on him.

“Breakfast is almost over,” Ron said, now putting his shoes on.

“You go on ahead,” Harry said. “I’m not very hungry.” It wasn’t actually a lie. Thinking about what his dream meant took any appetite he had that morning. It was just as much the truth as it was an excuse not to have to get up and try to hide his physical reaction to the dream.

“Suit yourself mate,” Ron shrugged. He finished tying his shoes before leaving their dorm.

Harry picked his head up, glancing around briefly to make sure no one else was left in there, before letting out a long, frustrated groan into his pillow. Why this morning? It was the morning of the ball. He already had enough on his plate, worrying about being in such a large crowd of people being one of the things bothering him, and now he had to pile this on. Harry just had a dream he was making out with another boy. And he very obviously enjoyed it, although that problem was slowly being diminished by his plight. He didn’t have the time to think about what it meant but he didn’t think he had much of a choice. Harry didn’t think he’d be able to push that problem to the corner of his mind.

Another aggravated groan escaped Harry, but it came out more of a yell. He rolled onto his back and stared at the top of his four poster bed. Did he like boys? He’d never thought about it before. He liked his dream and that was with another boy. What about girls? Harry never really thought about girls that way. Was he gay? He didn’t think he really wanted to go kiss any girls, Harry realized. He thought about kissing any of the boys he knew and one in particular came to mind. Tall, shoulder length red hair… Oh. _Oh_. Harry dreamed of Fred. _Harry dreamed of Fred_. Maybe Fred was just the first person who popped into his head. He thought about kissing other boys, but he was thoroughly unamused by that idea. Harry ended up staying in bed until lunch.

When he finally forced himself out of bed and down to the common room it was empty. Everyone was most likely in the Great Hall, so he made his way there.

Harry trudged into the huge room and plopped down next to Hermione. He sat sideways on the bench so he was facing her side and could rest his forehead on her shoulder. He closed his eyes, trying to forget about the ball and questioning his sexuality.

“What’s wrong with you?” Ron asked from where he sat on Hermione’s other side.

“Just stressed about the ball,” Harry answered. It wasn’t a lie. Just not the whole truth.

“I thought you were okay going with Fred,” Hermione said.

“I am,” Harry sighed. “There’s just going to be so many people and I don’t want to ruin Fred’s night by sitting on the outskirts the whole time. I shouldn’t have even asked him to go with me. It’s not fair to him.”

“First of all, you know he doesn’t care,” Hermione said. “He wouldn’t have agreed to go with you if he did. Second, Fred will make sure you’re okay. He always does.”

“Yeah, sometimes I think he likes you more than he likes me,” Ron complained. “I tried to take food off of his plate once when he wasn’t looking and he almost bit my hand off. You do it and he pushes his plate closer. I fall asleep on the couch and I wake up with green hair. You fall asleep on the couch and Fred covers you with a blanket.”

Harry couldn’t help but smile at that memory. He had fallen asleep on the couch at the Burrow, but woke up to the older twin draping a blanket over him, whispering, “There you go.”

“Thanks Freddie,” Harry had mumbled, pulling the blanket tighter around himself.

“How can you tell it’s me?” Fred had asked. “You don’t even have your glasses on.” Harry usually didn’t struggle very much to tell him apart from George, but without his glasses it should have been impossible to see the difference. The boy was pretty blind without them.

“Your voice,” Harry had said before falling back asleep.

He started when someone placed their hand on his shoulder, pulling him out of the memory. Harry sat upright and dipped his shoulder out from under the hand.

“Sorry Harry,” George said as he sat down behind him. “It’s only me. Didn’t mean to startle you.” He placed his hand on Harry’s shoulder again and gave him a gentle pat. Fred was with him of course and sat down on George’s other side.

“It’s okay,” Harry said, relaxing as George patted his shoulder. He moved one of his legs to the other side of the bench so he was sitting normally, then rested his cheeks on his hands.

“What’s got you so down today?” Fred asked.

“Nothing,” Harry lied.

“Well I hope you’re ready for the ball,” Fred said. “Tonight’s gonna be great.”

Harry turned his head to the side to see the redhead flashing him a grin. He gave Fred a small smile in return before he had to turn his head back into his hands because he felt like his face was going to burst into flames. That smile might very well be the death of Harry Potter.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Angelina went with Fred to the Yule Ball, but George is going to take her for this story.

Fred met Harry down in the common room. He was waiting near George and Angelina Johnson, but made his way to the base of the stairs when he saw Harry and Ron walking down.

“Shall we?” the redhead asked, holding his hand out for Harry, who was still a couple steps from the ground. Harry was not pleased to find out he was only about as tall as Fred when he was standing two steps up.

Harry took his hand, nodding, and walked down the last two steps. He could feel the butterflies fluttering in his stomach, although he couldn’t tell if they were from being worried about the ball or from Fred, who Harry thought looked absolutely stunning.

“You actually wore those?” Fred was looking at Ron now with a mildly horrified look.

“Well what else was I supposed to wear?” Ron glared at his brother, crossing his arms over his chest. Harry could already tell this ball was not going to be good for Ron’s temper.

“I think your school robes would have been a better choice,” Fred said. “C’mon Harry. Let’s go have some fun.” He started to pull him away and toward the portrait entrance that George had just walked out of. Harry motioned for Ron to come with them, but he only rolled his eyes and trudged slowly behind them.

The closer they got to the Great Hall, the tighter Harry’s grip on Fred’s hand got and the closer he walked to the redhead. They were bumping shoulders every stride by the time they arrived. Harry could see Fred kept glancing down at him every once in a while.

“Tell me what you’re worried about,” Fred whispered as they were standing outside the Great Hall with the other champions and their dates, waiting to enter.

“I don’t know,” Harry admitted quietly. “I think I’m just anxious about how crowded it’s going to be and everything else is snowballing.” He started to fiddle with his hands, trying to get his nervous energy out in any way possible.

“If the crowd gets too much, let me know,” Fred said. “We can take a break or go wander the halls. I mean it.” He gave Harry a stern look and the younger wizard nodded in response.

The music suddenly started and that was the cue for the champions to enter. Fred nudged Harry with his elbow. He glanced at him briefly before taking his elbow and following the other champions into the Great Hall.

Fred led them to the far corner of the dance floor, getting into position for the dance to start. Harry willed the heat in his cheeks away as the waiting left the perfect chance for Harry to think about Fred’s hand resting on his waist. The redhead wiggled his eyebrows and made a face at the younger boy right as the music started. Harry had to stifle a laugh.

Most of the first dance was Fred pulling funny faces and Harry having to stop himself from laughing. By the end of the song, Harry was smiling and most of the anxiety that wound tight in his chest had dissipated.

Song after song came and Harry could admit he was actually having fun. Fred never left his side, constantly kept him talking and laughing, and when the dance floor turned into a mosh pit, he moved them so they weren’t in the center and were near George, Angelina, Hermione, and Victor.

At a certain point, Hermione grabbed his hand and started to pull him away from Fred.

“C’mon!” she yelled over the music and the yelling from the other students. “They’ll go get us drinks! Let’s go find Ron!”

“Okay!” Harry nodded. He glanced back at Fred who was already following Victor off, then let Hermione pull him out of the throng of people.

They both came stumbling out of the crowd, laughing as Harry tripped over his own feet and almost yanked them both to the ground.

“Look! You’re having fun,” Hermione laughed as they stopped just off of the dance floor to catch their breath. “I told you everything would be okay.”

“Yeah yeah,” Harry said. “You’re always right.” Hermione shoved him playfully. “Let’s find Ron.”

Hermione ended up spotting their friend at one of the tables on the other side of the dance floor. His arms were crossed and the scowl that was there in the beginning of the night had only grown bigger. The duo plopped down in the chairs next to him.

“Victor and Fred have gone to get us drinks,” Hermione said. “Do you want to join us?”

“No,” Ron grumbled.

“What’s got your wand in a knot?” Hermione asked, taken aback some. Wrong question, Harry thought. He could see the anger in Ron’s eyes spike as soon as Hermione asked that.

“You’re fraternizing with the enemy!” Ron said. Harry did feel a little bad. He knew his best friend fancied the brilliant witch and was more than a little jealous, but any sympathy he had disappeared as Ron added, “And you’re on a date with my brother. It’s weird.”

“He’s taking me as friends!” Harry snapped defensively. Fear shot straight through his chest. He did not want to be on this subject. He also didn’t know what he’d done to get on Ron’s bad side that night. “C’mon Mione,” Harry said, standing up. She stood up with Harry and they walked away in the direction Fred and Victor went.

The last thing Harry heard was, “Whatever,” from Ron before they were out of earshot.

“Fraternizing with the enemy!” Hermione hissed. “What’s gotten into him?”

“Just leave it,” Harry sighed. “He’s been in a bad mood since he put his robes on.”

“What happened to you two,” Fred asked when Harry and Hermione finally found him and Victor. He handed Harry a glass of butterbeer. The younger wizard accepted it gratefully and downed almost half of it in one go.

“Ron’s in a mood,” Harry explained, wiping the foam from the butterbeer off of his mouth.

Fred only nodded in response, but then said, “Let’s go find somewhere to sit. I think the slow songs are about to start anyway.” He started to lead the way outside of the Great Hall and found a spot for them.

Harry didn’t mention that he did want to slow dance with Fred. That was well outside of the realm of going to the dance as friends. He settled down next to the redhead and sipped on his butterbeer.

“Did I meet your standards for the night?” Fred asked, casually throwing an arm around Harry’s shoulders. Harry took that as his cue to scoot a little closer to the tall wizard and lean into him a little bit. Fred was comfy, Harry thought.

“Exceeded,” he corrected. “Tonight was fun. I wasn’t expecting that.”

Fred turned to Harry with that lopsided grin that he decided was the most addictive thing ever. “Glad to know I wasn’t a total bore like you expected,” he said.

“No! Not because of you!” Harry hurried to correct himself. “I thought I’d freak out over something.”

“I know,” Fred laughed. “I’m only teasing.”

They sat in comfortable silence after that for several minutes. Harry could indeed hear the slow dancing music coming from the Great Hall. It almost made him want to fall asleep. Fred’s side was pretty warm, too, but Harry’s mind was racing too fast for sleep. The implications of his dream from the night before weren’t leaving him alone.

“How did you know you were gay?” Harry found himself blurting the question out. He was grateful there was no one within earshot.

“What?” Fred turned to look at Harry again.

“Nothing. Sorry.”

“I don’t mind answering,” Fred said and Harry could feel him shrug. “You surprised me is all.” Harry didn’t say anything else after that, so Fred continued. “I realized that thinking other boys’ bums were cute wasn’t exactly a straight train of thought. Why do you ask?”

Harry didn’t say anything for a few moments. His heart was pounding so hard in his chest he could hear it. He was sure Fred could feel it where their sides touched. Was he going to tell Fred? Did he have it in him to do so?

Then, mustering up as much Gryffindor courage as he could, Harry whispered, “I think I’m gay, too.” If he was standing, he would have collapsed from how jello-like his legs felt.

“Thank you for telling me,” Fred smiled, pulling Harry a little bit closer. “It’s scary isn’t it? Telling someone, I mean. Have you told anyone else?”

Harry nodded in agreement in response to the first question, then shook his head to answer the second one. “You’re the first one I told.”

“Well, should you choose to tell anyone else, you know my family will love you no matter what. How did _you_ know _you_ were gay?” he asked Harry's question back at him. By that point, Fred was rubbing Harry’s arm in a comforting manner.

“There’s this boy I think I like,” Harry mumbled, feeling his face heat up as he stared at the floor. “I don’t think I’ve ever liked someone before, though. I might not be gay… I don’t really know for sure. Kissing girls doesn’t sound very fun, but neither does kissing boys except for that one boy. I think I’d really like to kiss him.”

“That’s okay,” Fred said. “Your identity can change as you learn more about yourself.”

Harry nodded and let their conversation fall silent for a moment before asking, “Could we go back to the common room now?” He looked up at Fred. “I wanna get in my pajamas and maybe play exploding snap.”

“Sounds good to me,” Fred said with a smile. He got to his feet, then offered a hand to Harry, who gladly took it.

Once Harry was on his feet, they started walking back to the Gryffindor common room side by side.

“It’s not George is it?” Fred asked as they approached the portrait entrance to their common room.

“What?” Harry asked, confused.

“Your crush. It’s not George right?”

“What?! No!” Harry exclaimed. “I do not have a crush on George. No.”

“Good,” Fred said, looking satisfied with that answer.

What that was supposed to mean, Harry didn’t know. He didn’t think too much into it, though, pushing the thought to the back of his mind.

When they got to the portrait of the Fat Lady, Fred said the password and the door swung open.

“After you,” he said, gesturing for Harry to walk in first. Harry couldn't help the warm feeling in his chest when Fred did that.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked reading this one! I'm having a lot of fun writing it and I plan on updating weekly. I don't have everything written out so if there're any scenes you might want to see, let me know and I'll see if I can fit them in because I'm always open to ideas.


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